The new terminology itself indicates the novelty of Romo’s weekend role. He started two games after making his first 588 career appearances as a reliever. But he was doing so on consecutive days, with the express purpose of clearing the top of the Angels’ lineup before making way for pitchers—normally starters—who would give Tampa Bay more innings. Romo was technically starting, but not in the traditional sense of the term. He was opening—the games, and, perhaps, a futuristic path to ordering a pitching staff.
The plan worked on Saturday, as the right-handed Romo pitched one perfect inning, then left-handed rookie Ryan Yarbrough tossed 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball in Tampa’s 5-3 win. It was ultimately less effective on Sunday, as the parade of Rays arms following Romo coughed up five runs and Shohei Ohtani shut down Tampa Bay’s bats, but let not the results impede analysis of the process. From a strategic standpoint, Rays manager Kevin Cash’s ploy was brilliant.
First, the Rays were the right team to conduct this experiment. Tampa Bay’s scheduled “starters” in those two contests were Yarbrough and Anthony Banda, both lefties, both youngsters, and both unlikely to go deep into games. Cash had already been employing a shortened rotation since the start of the season, and if Tampa Bay’s bullpen would need to pitch multiple innings both days anyway, it made sense to reorder those innings to maximize the relief corps’ value and effectiveness.
On days that Ohtani doesn’t hit, the Angels lineup begins with at least five, if not more, right-handed hitters in a row, and Romo is better-equipped than almost any pitcher to deal with them. Among 189 active pitchers who have faced at least 1,000 right-handed batters in their career, Romo
ranks second in opposing OBPwith a .232 on-base rate, behind only Kenley Jansen. “It allows us in theory to let Sergio to come in there and play the matchup game in the first, which is somewhat unheard of—up until Saturday anyway,”
Cash told reporters. “Then Yarbs can, in theory, have the availability to get deeper in the game. There’s no more secret about the third time through the order, everybody knows that. And that’s kind of what this is about.”
